BCEP 2022 Team 09: Navigation Session - Catherine Creek (Coyote Wall Loop)

Activity Notes

If you couldn't make it to yesterday's Mt. Tabor exercise, never fear, this hike will be our main Navigation Session for the BCEP class.  Please be sure to bring your compass with adjustable declination pre-set, a paper copy of your map, and a pen/pencil. 

This will be a hike in which you (the students) will be completely in charge of route-finding.  This area is known as 'the Labyrinth' not because we expect to find David Bowie lurking around (would be epic), but rather there are many pathways we can take to reach our objective.  How we do so will be entirely up to you. Each student IS REQUIRED to take ~30min turns leading the group so everyone will gain some experience leading via map and compass.  We will also practice teaching you how to take a bearing in order to calculate your position on a map, and also how to follow a bearing in case you cannot see due to poor weather conditions/lack of light, etc.  You will learn what it is like to become lost, and how to troubleshoot to find where you are on the map again.  These are necessary skills that can save your life so we want to make sure each and every one of you feels comfortable with navigation basics by the end of the day. Our goal is to give you the maximum amount of navigation practice as possible on this hike, so no climbing gear necessary this time (shocking, I know).

Warning: ticks are often located here so please wear gaiters and do not set your packs down in the tall grass. We will meet at the Catherine Creek Trailhead (https://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guide/Catherine_Creek_Trailhead)